Noah: Keeping Kosher on the Ark – and in the Holy Land

by Rav Hillel Fendel.

This week's Torah portion of Noah (B'reshit 6,9 - 11,32) is a fine opportunity to learn a bit about some of the laws of kashrut. How so?

We know that Noah was originally commanded to bring “two of every kind of every living thing of all flesh” (6,19). However, as Rashi explains, what this meant was at least two, and possibly more – for shortly afterwards we read that G-d told Noah: “Of every animal take with you seven, and of every animal that is not pure, take two…" (7,2)

How was Noah to know what rendered an animal pure or impure? Again, Rashi explains: A pure animal is “one that is destined to be pure for Israel.” In short: a kosher animal.

And what makes a kosher animal? In Parashat Sh'mini the Torah tells us (Vayikra 11,2): “Every animal that has a split hoof, completely divided, and that chews the cud - that animal you may eat.”

For one thing, as Rashi further tells us, this shows that Noah was taught at least some laws of the Torah, nearly 800 years before it was given to Israel. That is, he was taught which animals were kosher, to be saved in groups of seven, and which were not kosher and should be saved only in pairs. The intention was that there would be more kosher animals than impure: three pairs that would reproduce, and one individual to be brought as a sacrificial offering to G-d after the Flood.

Regarding these signs that Noah was taught, and which we later learned in the Torah (Vayikra 11,2), there appear to be three: mafris parsah, shosaat shesa, and maaleh gera. However, in fact the second term is an elaboration of the first, and it means that the hoof - a kind of thick nail on the animal’s foot, helping it climb rocky terrain safely - must be split all the way through. A camel, for instance, has a partially split hoof, but because it is not split all the way up, it lacks this kosher sign and is in fact not kosher.

The second sign, chewing the cud, is that the animal regurgitates partially digested food from its stomach in order to re-chew it; this aids digestion.

The Shulchan Aruch rules that there is an additional identifying sign: the animal must not have upper teeth. This is based on a Rabbinic tradition.

 The Ramban, Rabbeinu Bachye, and others wrote that pure mammals are herbivores and have gentle temperaments, whereas impure ones are predators and aggressive.

“And since the food a person eats influences his soul, the Torah commanded us not to eat species that are inclined toward cruelty,” summarized Rabbi Eliezer Melamed, Rosh Yeshivat Har Bracha in the Shomron (Samaria) region of Israel.

 The two signs we mentioned indeed relate to the kind of food these animals eat: grass and plants contain much cellulose, which is hard to digest – such that chewing the cud allows for repeated chewing to improve digestion. And the split hooves allow climbing on rocks and steep hillsides to reach the necessary grass.

It is important to note the following sign of the Divinity of the Torah: The Torah mentions exactly four species that have exactly one of these two signs: the camel, the hyrax, and the hare (which only chew the cud), and the pig (which only has split hooves). And indeed, no animal other than these has ever been discovered with only one of the two signs.

Walking in the Wilderness
This fact leads to the following fascinating Halakhah [Jewish law], as ruled in the Shulchan Aruch (Yoreh Deah 79,1):

“If someone finds an animal in the wilderness and does not recognize it, yet he knows that it is not a camel, and that it chews its cud, and it is impossible to check its hooves – he should check whether it has teeth in the upper jaw. If it does not, it is known to be a kosher animal. Similarly, if one finds an animal and it is impossible to determine whether it chews the cud, he should examine its feet: if its hooves are split, it is known to be kosher, provided that he recognizes that it is not a pig.”

That is to say: If the animal has one sign, and we cannot know if it has the other sign, and we know that it is not a pig or another of the four animals that have only one sign – then it is kosher, provided it also has the Rabbinic sign of no upper teeth.

Behind the Scenes
We know that we cannot ascertain absolute reasons for many of the Torah's commandments, especially those that are chukim, seemingly incomprehensible statutes. However, we can still derive values and meanings from many of the mitzvot. Rav Melamed, for instance, comments that the most important principle regarding chukim is that they distinguish between the Jewish Nation and the other peoples. G-d first created many different animals, and permitted them to be eaten by all – but He then separated us from the other nations (as we say in the Havdalah blessing), and sanctified us with His mitzvot. That is, He permitted us to eat only the "pure" animals and forbade us those that are impure.

 This is summed up in the following Torah passage from Parashat Kedoshim (Vayikra 20, 23-26):

"You shall not follow the practices of the nation that I am driving out [from the Holy Land] before you, for they committed all these [sins]… You shall take over their land, and I shall give it to you to possess it - a Land flowing with milk and honey. I am the Lord your God, Who has distinguished you from the peoples. And you shall distinguish between pure animals and impure ones… And you shall be holy to Me, for I, the Lord, am holy, and I have distinguished you from the peoples, to be Mine."

Thus, we may sum up as follows:
The laws of kashrut return us full-circle to the fact that we are a holy and distinguished nation, and have been given the Holy Land in which to fully manifest our sanctified peoplehood.